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Nov 11 15 8:06 AM
150 scientists come up with plan that's quite similar to the one portrayed in the movie.It seems to be a case of fact mirroring fiction. "The Martian," starring Matt Damon as an astronaut stranded on Mars, was the No. 1 movie at the box office again this weekend. And it's not just America's movie-going public that's taken notice. NASA seems to be paying close attention as well. In the film, Matt Damon's character resorts to cleverness and botanical know-how to survive on Mars for four years by growing his own potatoes. At the core of his ingenious plan is his use of materials he finds on the planet. One hundred-fifty scientists and engineers at NASA just reached the same conclusion. As part of its new plan to travel to Mars, the U.S. space agency held a four-day workshop last week at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston to discuss various aspects of an upcoming mission to the Red Planet. The more supplies a ship has to carry on the long trip from Earth to Mars, the more complicated a mission becomes. "Every drop of water collected on Mars is one drop less that needs to be launched from Earth and propelled through 100 million kilometers of space," writes space journalist Eric Berger in a blog post titled "Hollywood or Houston" about last week's conference. "This ultimately could save NASA tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars in launch costs, potentially making a Mars plan affordable."
150 scientists come up with plan that's quite similar to the one portrayed in the movie.
It seems to be a case of fact mirroring fiction. "The Martian," starring Matt Damon as an astronaut stranded on Mars, was the No. 1 movie at the box office again this weekend. And it's not just America's movie-going public that's taken notice.
NASA seems to be paying close attention as well. In the film, Matt Damon's character resorts to cleverness and botanical know-how to survive on Mars for four years by growing his own potatoes. At the core of his ingenious plan is his use of materials he finds on the planet. One hundred-fifty scientists and engineers at NASA just reached the same conclusion.
As part of its new plan to travel to Mars, the U.S. space agency held a four-day workshop last week at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston to discuss various aspects of an upcoming mission to the Red Planet. The more supplies a ship has to carry on the long trip from Earth to Mars, the more complicated a mission becomes. "Every drop of water collected on Mars is one drop less that needs to be launched from Earth and propelled through 100 million kilometers of space," writes space journalist Eric Berger in a blog post titled "Hollywood or Houston" about last week's conference. "This ultimately could save NASA tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars in launch costs, potentially making a Mars plan affordable."
Read more @ http://www.fromthegrapevine.com/innovation/nasa-looks-matt-damon-film-actual-ideas-living-mars
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